South Carolina law enforcement officials have questions about Arizona-style immigration bill

Law enforcement officials
in South Carolina say they want to know how a proposed state immigration
law would work, adding that they are unsure they have the resources to
enforce it.

South Carolina legislators will consider an
Arizona-style immigration bill, requiring law enforcement officers to
check the residency status of suspected illegal immigrants, when their
next session begins Jan. 11.

South Carolina is one of several
states that will consider such bills this year. Governor-elect Nikki
Haley, who takes office Jan. 12, has said she wants to crack down on
illegal immigration.

The proposed law will be a topic during the
upcoming winter meeting of the S.C. Sheriff's Association, said Jeff
Moore, the group's executive director, adding there are many unanswered
questions about how such a law would work. The group has not taken a
position on the bill.

"The biggest question I've got is: How are
we supposed to verify somebody's residency?" Moore said. "Having access
to that information on the side of the road at 2 in the morning is going
to be a problem."

At least two immigration bills have been filed
in the S.C. Senate. One of the bills would toughen penalties against
businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

State Sen. Larry
Martin, R-Pickens, who led a judiciary subcommittee working on
immigration proposals, said his group plans to bring a bill to the
Senate floor early in the session before the Legislature shifts its
focus to other issues, including the state's ongoing budget crisis and
drawing new legislative districts.

Martin, who is a co-sponsor of
the two Senate bills, says illegal immigrants cost the state a lot of
money. Illegal immigrants run up unpaid health care bills, burden the
public school system, improperly obtain benefits such as food stamps and
cause an increase in crime, such as domestic violence, some legislators
say.

There are few statistics to prove what kind of financial burden illegal immigrants put on the state.

Part
of the problem in calculating those costs is no one knows how many
illegal immigrants live in South Carolina. Demographers have estimated
the number at anywhere from 150,000 to 500,000. Most are from Latin
America.

However, those estimates were made before the state
passed one of the nation's toughest immigration laws in 2008 and before
the recession resulted in thousands of lost jobs in sectors that
employed many immigrants.

The 2008 law cracked down on businesses
that employ illegal immigrants by requiring all S.C. companies to verify
their employees' residency status.

Arizona's immigration law,
which made headlines last year, allows police to check the immigration
status of anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant.

Critics say the law, which is being challenged in federal court, encourages racial profiling.

Besides
concerns about profiling, S.C. law enforcement officers are trying to
figure out how their already stretched agencies would take on another
responsibility.

Reggie Lloyd, director of the State Law
Enforcement Division, said his agency has suffered from the state's
budget crisis, leaving it with a shortage of agents.

SLED does not have the manpower to chase illegal immigrants without giving up other duties, he said.

"Do
you want us to chase the guy who cut his wife's head off or is in MS-13
(a gang) or dealing drugs, or do you want us to get the guy on top of
the roof nailing shingles?" Lloyd said. "We can't do it all."